Michael David NegriniCharged with assaulting police officers and other offenses

Media Release

A South Kona man was taken into police custody Tuesday (July 10) after assaulting two police officers who were investigating complaints about a naked man creating a disturbance.

Police responded to Ulua Drive off Papa Bay Road in South Kona several times on Tuesday but were initially unable to locate the suspect.

Around 7:15 p.m. two officers responded to another complaint from a 58-year-old man, who reported that he heard breaking glass immediately after seeing the naked man running with a stick.

At approximately 8 p.m., the two officers approached the suspect’s house with flashlights. They observed through a window that the house appeared to be ransacked. They entered the home from an unlocked door to check on the welfare of the occupant.

While the officers were inside, the occupant threatened the officers with a metal pipe and then ran out of the house. As the officers were searching outside for the suspect, he jumped out of the bushes and swung the pipe at one officer, who attempted to block the blow with his baton. The force of the pipe against the baton pushed the baton into the officer’s cheek, causing a superficial laceration.

When the second officer went to the aid of the first officer, the suspect struck him on the face with the pipe causing a contusion and swelling. During the struggle, the suspect struck the second officer again, this time on the left forearm, causing an abrasion.

The officers subdued the suspect, identified as 50-year-old Michael David Negrini, and arrested him.

Negrini was charged Wednesday (July 11) with two counts of assaulting a police officer in the first degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, and resisting arrest.

He was also charged with criminal property damage, disorderly conduct, open lewdness, simple trespass, terroristic threatening, harassment, disorderly conduct and criminal tampering based on complaints from the 58-year-old man, a 48-year-old man, a 63-year-old man and a 70-year-old man.

Negrini was later additionally charged with third-degree assault for slapping his cellmate, a 29-year-old man, while in custody at the Kona police cellblock.

Negrini’s bail was set at $50,250 and he was being held at the cellblock pending a court hearing scheduled for today (July 12).